Center brace for drag rolls of looms



Feb.16,1926. 1,573,777

` E. L. TINKHAM CENTERBRACE FOR DRAG ROLLS OF LOOMS Filed July 18' 1925Fi g. 1.

Eugene I .TinKhum bya/m Patented F eb. 16, 1926.

UNITED-STATES PATENT oFFicF..-

EUGENE L. TINKHAM, or HoPEnALE', MASSACHUSETTS, ASSTGNOR To DRAPER Con-PoRATIoN, 0E HorEnALaMASsACHUsETTs, A ConPoEATroN or MAINE.

CENTER BRACE Eon DRAGv ROLLS Vor LooiviS.

Applicatonled July 18, 1925. Serialv No. 44,450.

To all whom t may oon-cern.:

Be it known thatI, EUGENE L. TINKHAM, a. citizen of the United States,and a resident of Hopedale, county of /Vorcester, State of'Massachusetts, have` invented an Improvement in Center Braces for DragRolls of Looms, of which the itollowing description, in connection withthe Vaccompanying drawthe side frames or brackets extending from'y theSide trames of the loom. .'Ihewarp sheet passes from the warp beamk overthe auxiliary roll, thence beneath and `around a substantial portion ofthe main drag roll and therefrom to the shedof the loom. The drag rollsact `to spread the warp` sheet out in proper 'form and apply thenecessary drag or tension tothe 4warps in the weaving operation. Thesedrag rollsare desirably, but not necessarily, in the form of hollow,cylindrical bars or rolls, and the tension of the y warps, particularlyupon wide looms and when heavy warps are employed, tends to ilex'or bendone or both of the rolls so that an uneven tension is imposed upon thewarps, which, of course, will produce a devfect in the weave.

The object of the present invention is to provide means for stifleningthe drag rolls and thereby prevent any flexure of the same whichwouldvproduce such an uneven tension tially horizontally upon therespective drag vr.rolls will becaused in a large measure to neutralizeeach other and thereby to aid in preventing lexure'of `therespectivedrag rolls. Y'

A futher object of the invention isto provide means for separating thewarps ofV the approaching lead of the warp sheet so that comprise ythewarps will not kbe caught vbetween the brace and a drag roll.

A fut-her object of the invention is to provide a retaining device forthe brace which will prevent it from moven'icnt relatively through therolls. y f y f Other objects and features ofthe invention will appearmoie fully from the following description and the accompanying drawingsand will be pointed out in the claims.

Inas'much as the invention relates only to `thisparticular feature ofthe loom, it is necessary to illustrate and describe the con! structionof the loom onlyl in so far as it is particularly concerned with thebracing mechanism for the drag rolls.

In the drawings:

Fig. l isa plan view of the drag rolls of the loom Showing the SameSupported from the loom side with aportion of the warp sheet ruimingover the drag rolls.v

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the drag rolls showing inelevation a pre?Y ferred form of brace and retaining r,means thereforhaving guiding means for separating the warp sheet andpreventing thewarp' from Vbeingc'vaught between the brace and a drag roll.

Fig. 3 is a similar view illustrating a pair ofy drag rolls in which theauxiliary 'roll is of smaller diameter than, the main drag roll. v f

Fig. L is an`A enlarged plan view ot a media-n portion of the drag rollsand the brace and spacing mechanism f embodying the present inventionapplied thereto. K

In the construction illustrated, a main drag roll 1 and an auxiliaryr'roll`2, ar`

ranged in parallelism-therewith, are supported at their'ends upon thelooin'side or a bracket extending therefrom in the usual manner. Theservdrag rolls may be,

and preferably are, of cylindrical form.

` The approaching lead 3 of the sheet of warp passesrfrom the warp beamupwardly over the auxiliary roll 2, thence downwardlyl 'beneath andVaround the main drag roll 1 and from which the warp sheet'runs in alsubstantially horizontalY lead 4L to the shed' and thence to thetension and cloth rolls of the loom. In its passage around theauxiliary'and main drag rolls, the drag or tension necessaryA to theweaving operation y is imposed upon the warp and thewarp iary roll.

The object of the )resent invention is to provide means for preventingsuch ller;- ure of the main roll and, in fact, for preventing flexure ofboth rolls and also to maintain the rolls in parallelism against thetension of the warp sheet thus imposed up on the roll.

The preferred mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawingscomprises a brace interposed between the rolls, which acts both as astifl'ener to the central portion of the roll and to maintain the samein parallelism. Any desired num` er of braces may be used, butordinarily a ing member located centrally or .i tially centrally of theroll will be sutlicient for the purpose.

A preferred form of bracing member illustrated in the accompanying`drmvings comprises a metallic member or bloei-1 having` a flat uppersurface G, which is located below a plane tangent to the upper surfacesof the rolls and which has downwardly converging opposite side faces 7and 8 engaging and preferably complementary to the adjacent surfaces ofthe main a d auxiliary drag rolls forming a wedge-like construction.rllhe block 5 preferably extends bclow the axial plane of the rolls, asil trated in Figs. 2 and 3. By reason of construction,the forces whichare impoeil upon the outer peripheries of the auf'lary and main rollsrespectively act again.; each other and upon the brace, thussulistantially overcoming the forces which otherwise would tend to flexthe respective rolls along their intermediate portions and therebyproduce a less tension upon the warps at the intermediate portion of therolls than at the ends thereof'. By reason of the fact that the sidefaces 7 and 8 of the bloclz, which are complementary to the respectiverolls, extend both above and below the plane of the centers of the roll,a material proportion of the resultant lines of force,

which act radially with respect to the points where the warps engage therespective rolls, pass into the brace in opposite directions andconsequently neutralize each other. ln the operation of the loom, thetension of the warp acts more forcibly upon the main roll than upon theauxiliary roll and the unyielding brace which is located between theserolls also causes the auxiliary roll to reenforce or stillen the mainroll against flexure.

In order to maintain the brace 5, which may be of relatively narrowwidth, against move nent longitudinally of the roll, a retaining member9 is provided which prefing member 9 desirably is provided with' theguiding linger jfl, which extends across the path of the approachinglead t5 of the warp and is of sulii .ient width to separate the warps sothat they will not be caught between the brace and a drag roll. ln orderfurther to prevent the atching of the warps which pass over thel rollscloselT adjacent to the brace 5, the upper end portion lo of the bracewhich engages the auriliary draf)l roll, desir-ably is provided withbevelled faces 1G and 17 which will serve to guide any warps which mightotherwise engage the brace along the rolls in such amanner thatthey willnot be caught between the brace and the auxiliary drag roll.

rlhe terms brace or bracing member as employed in the specification andclaims will be understood to include a device which acts both as a braceto the drag rolls and as a spacing means for maintaining the drag rollsin parallelism, lt will be understood that while a single bracing memberof this character located centrally of the drag rolls is ordinarilysuliicient, that any desired number of brac may be employed and that thebracing member may be of any desired form or construction. @lt willtherefore be apparent that the present embodiment of the invention is ofan illustrative character and is not restrictive to the meaning andscope of the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent, is:

l. A drag` roll construction for looms comprising a plurality ofparallel rolls supported at their ends and rigid bracing means supportedby said rolls and located between the rolls intermediate of the lengthof said rolls acting to stillen said rolls against tlexure by the warpsheet as it is dragged over said rolls in its passage from the warp beamto the shed.

2. A drag roll construction for looms comprising a main drag roll and aparallel auxiliary drag roll supported at their ends, a rigid bracesupported by said rolls and having oppositely disposed surfacescomplementary to adjacent'surfaces of the respective rolls locatedintermediate of the length of said rolls and extending above and belowthe horizontal plane of the axes of said rolls and acting to preventflexure of ythe rolls by the warp sheet as itis dragged over said rollsand its passage from the warp beam to the shed. Y i

3. A drag roll construction for looms comprising a main drag roll and aparallel auxiliary drag roll supported at their ends, a rigid bracesupported by said rolls and having oppositely disposed downwardly con-`verging surfaces complementaryh to adjacent surfaces of the respectiverolls forming a. wedge-like construction located intermediate o f thelength of said rolls and 'acting to prevent flexure of the rolls by thewarp sheet asit is dragged over said rolls and its passage from the warpbeam to the shed, and adjustable retainingmeans secured to said bracedetachably engaging said rolls operable to clamp the wedge-like bracermly upon the rolls. j

a. A drag roll construction for looms comprising a main drag roll and aparallel auxiliary drag roll supported at their ends, a rigid bracesupported by saidV rolls and having oppositely disposed downwardlyconverging surfaces complementary to the segments of surfaces of the.respective Vdrag rolls and a retaining member adjustably securedjtosaid brace and engaging said'rolls and having a guiding arm extendingbeneath the forward roll and out of contacttherewith Vinto the path ofthe approaching lead of the warp sheet and acting to divide the warpsheet and prevent the warps from being caught between said brace and adrag roll.

5. A drag lroll construction for looms comprising a main drag roll and aparallel auxiliaryidrag roll supported at theirl ends,a rigid bracehaving its upper surface located belowl a plane tangent to the uppersurfaces of said rolls and opposite side surfaces complementary tosegments'of the surfaces f of therespective rolls and extending belowthe plane of the axes of said'y rolls and a retaining member spacedapart from the lower surface of said bracing member engaging thesurfaces of the respective rolls, and

adjustable means connecting said spacing.

member and said bracing member.

o. A drag roll construction for looms com prising a maindrag roll and aparallel auxiliary dragroll supported at their ends, a rigid bracehaving its upper surface located below a plane tangent to the uppersurfaces of said rolls and opposite side surfaces complementary tosegments of the surfaces of the respective rolls and extending below theplane ofgthe axes of said rolls Yand a retaining member spaced apartfrom the lower surface'of said bracing member engaging the surfaces ofthe 'respective rolls,

adjustable means connecting said spacing member` and said bracingmember, and a curved finger extending from saidretaining member insubstantial parallelism with the under-surface of the auxiliary rollinto the path ofthe approaching lead of the warp` i i y sheet, Y

7.V A drag roll construction for looms comn prising a main drag roll anda parallel sup'- plemental drag roll supported at their end, a rigidbracing member having its upper surface'located below a plane tangenttothe upper surface of said roll andlconverging at its'end adjacent thesupplemental roll 'and oppositey side faces complementary to segments ofthe surfaces of the respectiveY rolls and extending below the axes ofsaid rolls and a retaining member spaced apart from the lower surface ofsaid bracing memi

